Slug casting machine



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J. C. PLASTARAS SLUG CASTING MACHINE Filed Sept. 5, 1940 19 Sheets-Sheet 16 INVENTOR A TT ORNE Y6 Jan. 5, 1943. J. c. PLAsTARAs SLUG CASTING MACHINE Filed Sept. 5, 1940 19 SheebS-Sheet 1'7 d INVENTOR n B Y l l /fvw I www 4'ZATTORNEYJ Jan. 5, 1943. .1. c. PLAsTARAs SLUG' CASTING MACHINE Filed Sept. 5, 1940 19 Sheets-Sheet 18 /NVENTOR A TTORNEY SLUG CASTING MACHINE 19 Sheets-Sheet 19 Filed Sept. 5, 1940 I N VEN TOR Patented Jan. 5, 1943 SLUG CASTING MACHINE James C. Plastaras, Laurelton, N. Y., assigner to Mergenthaler Linotype Company, a corporation of New .York

Application September 5, 1940, Serial No. 355,434

155 Claims.

This invention relates to slug casting machines wherein an assembled line of matrices is presented to the face of a slotted mold, the mold iilled with molten metal to form a type bar or slug against the matrices which produce the type characters thereon, and the type bar or slug thereafter ejected from the mold, trimmed and stacked in a galley located at the front of the machine.

While the instant improvements deal more specifically with the slug casting mechanism per se, they constitute part of a complete machine which is substantially new in its entirety and which has through controls located at the front of the mafchine within easy reach of the operator. Then, too, other adjustments which'must accompany Ythe substitution of one mold for another, as for instance, the adjustment of the ejector blade width to correspond with the slot length of the selected mold, and the adjustment in the spacing of the trimming knives to correspond with the slot width of the selected mold, are effected automatically and by power as the subsitution of molds is made.

To be more specific, the active mold is located and clamped in a mold holder which in its normal position, i. e., the slug ejecting position, 'is

a single mold and is adapted, during a machine cycle of operation, to swing upwardly from its normal vertical position into a horizontal casting vertically disposed. The mold holder carries but position and then move forwardly and back-- wardly into and out of contact with the composed line before and after casting, respectively. After the casting operation, the base of the slug is trimmed by a stationary knife having a cutting edge long enough to accommodate the longest slug to be cast and which is located so that the slug is pushed laterally past it as the mold moves downwardly from casting to ejecting position.

justs the magazine to a position wherein the In the latter position, the ejector blade moves forwardly to push the slug out of the mold-and between a pair of spaced trimming knives that shave the side faces of the slug to bring it to proper point size. After the slug has been ejected, the ejector blade moves rearwardly to its normal position of rest, whereupon the machine is ready for the next casting cycle. Here, it may be stated that two wiping mechanisms are provided, one for cleaning the front and rear faces of the mold adjacent the mold slot, and the other for removing any shavings adhering to the trimming knives, as the mold is swung from and to its normal ejecting position.

The machine is equipped with a ser-ies of molds vertically disposed in individual pockets of a mold magazine located directly beneath the mold holder when the latter is in its normal position. The pockets of the magazine are open at the top ,and bottom, and the magazine is arranged to be moved in a fore-and-laft direction to bring any selected mold into alignment with the mold holder. The molds are transferred from the magazine to the mold holder and vice versa by a vertically reciprocable transfer slide. Normally, this slide extends upwardly through the pocket allocated 'to the active mold then positioned in the mold holder and is locked in that raised position so long as said mold remains in use, the slide in turn locking the magazine against further adjustment or any movement tending to destroyV the alignment between the mold holder and the magazine pocket.

To substitute a different mold for the one in use, all that is required of the` operator is to move Y a control handle from one position. to another, adjust the mold magazine by a selecting lever to a position corresponding to the desired mold, and then return thel control handle to its original or normal position. The iirst movement of the control handle accomplishes three operations, rst, it renders inactivelthe devices that locate and clamp the mold in the mold. holder, second, it

unlocks the mold transfer slide, and third it controls power mechanism that pulls the active mold out of the mold holder down into its proper pocket in the mold magazine. When the transfer slide has restored the mold to the magazine, it isV located beneath and clear of the magazine,

which can then be adjusted to select a diierentl mold for use. Thereupon, with the aid of an indicator, the operator moves the mold selecting lever to a position corresponding to the newly selected mold. That movement of the selecting lever adnewly selected mold is brought into alignment with the mold holder at the top and with the transfer slide at the'bottom. Now, the operator restores the control handle to its original posi- 

